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Top revision tips for starting A levels?

Please give me your top revision tips for starting A levels@
Okay!

Tip 1: Take a long hard look at what you want to do in your life.
Tip 2: Don't do A levels because there become undervalued because so many people have them now.
Tip 3: Do an Apprenticeship instead, and save yourself the debt of university and not getting a job even with a degree.

Best advice I can give you. Good luck!
Original post by linda171
Please give me your top revision tips for starting A levels

1. Keep on top of everything and make sure you understand before you memorise, it makes revision easier.
2. Know how you revise and know what works well for you prior to exams ASAP.
3. Make revision realistic, revise a bit I'd say from October to December, then moderately from your mocks until March and intense from April onwards. (I'd personally say)
4. Balance revision and social life as well as other commitments respectably depending on how close it's to exam season.
5. Shut your phone off and dont procrastinate.
Bonus: Do not watch Game of Thrones during exan season😉

Find the spec for each subject, edit it to make it shorter, print it so you can use it as a checklist when you're doing revision.

Make revision cards/notes as soon as you finish studying a topic

Make sure you understand the topic! Watch YouTube videos, find notes online, try relevant questions from past papers, websites and textbooks.

Try questions on the same topic from different exam boards. This is especially good for science and maths. Note if you find your exam board are specific to what answers they look for only stick to them.

Don't leave past papers until you think you're ready, you will never be ready. Set a date by when you'd like to finish revision and start them and work towards that date. Even if you don't finish revision by that date start or otherwise you'll keep putting it off. I'd recommend starting past papers in April.

Be consistent with revision. If you improve by 1% every day within a year you'll have improved by 365%.

Practice. Practice. Practice. Don't practice until you get it right, practice until you can't get it wrong.

Look over topics before classes so you can use your classes to go over and solidify your knowledge of the topic

Find your weak topics and work on them more.

Set yourself goals / targets

Be willing to put in the work

Stay focused on the bigger picture- what grades do you want to achieve at the end of the year? What university do you want to go to? What do you need to go there?

Don't think about what others are doing, some will say they haven't started revision but could have been revising for months earlier.

Remember small steps everyday lead to massive results later on.

Do all the exam questions you can find. If you run out search more questions on a topic on google. You never know how lucky you can get- I found 80 pages of questions on respiration for biology once, the joys.

Write your scores down when you're doing past papers so that you can see improvement over time.

When you feel like giving up, stay positive. Don't give up just because something is hard.

Try to do more research around the subject, for example try doing the biology/chemistry/physics olympiads or maths challenges or any english competitions if you take those subjects. If your school doesn't usually do them, ask if they could organise it, it will help you.

If you aren't where you want to be with revision/ past paper marks be patient. Sometimes you have to go through the worst parts to get to the best parts.

It's not enough to do things right, you must also do the right things. Smart people fail everyday because they execute flawlessly on the wrong goals.

Set tasks when revising/doing homework. Keep your tasks small and do them one by one. Remember multitasking allows you to get less done in more time.

Never get upset because of a grade you got on a test/mock in class! It won't help you. Just stay focused and work on your mistakes. Learn from them.

Assume nothing, question everything.

Don't procrastinate, before you know it you'll be panicking about all the work you have to do in a limited time.

Learn to stop making excuses early

Embrace your challenges during the year and don't waste time because before you know it you'll be on the other side of completed exams looking back at those times wondering where time went.

Don't be put off by teachers saying you won't get a specific grade /predicting lower grades than you hope to get. One of the greatest pleasures in life is doing what others say you couldn't.

Remember the main difference between those who succeed and those who don't is how hard they're willing to work

Get into the habit of revising regularly

When you don't feel like doing revision remember you can either suffer the pain of discipline now or the pain of regret later on. Regret lasts forever.

When you get closer to exams remember worrying can't change the future, so just stay calm and focused.

Haha this turned out to be longer than I originally expected. I realise some of these tips are not really for starting A levels and are more for motivation, hopefully they will help you throughout the year though :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by thatcooldude2.0

Find the spec for each subject, edit it to make it shorter, print it so you can use it as a checklist when you're doing revision.

Make revision cards/notes as soon as you finish studying a topic

Make sure you understand the topic! Watch YouTube videos, find notes online, try relevant questions from past papers, websites and textbooks.

Try questions on the same topic from different exam boards. This is especially good for science and maths. Note if you find your exam board are specific to what answers they look for only stick to them.

Don't leave past papers until you think you're ready, you will never be ready. Set a date by when you'd like to finish revision and start them and work towards that date. Even if you don't finish revision by that date start or otherwise you'll keep putting it off. I'd recommend starting past papers in April.

Be consistent with revision. If you improve by 1% every day within a year you'll have improved by 365%.

Practice. Practice. Practice. Don't practice until you get it right, practice until you can't get it wrong.

Look over topics before classes so you can use your classes to go over and solidify your knowledge of the topic

Find your weak topics and work on them more.

Set yourself goals / targets

Be willing to put in the work

Stay focused on the bigger picture- what grades do you want to achieve at the end of the year? What university do you want to go to? What do you need to go there?

Don't think about what others are doing, some will say they haven't started revision but could have been revising for months earlier.

Remember small steps everyday lead to massive results later on.

Do all the exam questions you can find. If you run out search more questions on a topic on google. You never know how lucky you can get- I found 80 pages of questions on respiration for biology once, the joys.

Write your scores down when you're doing past papers so that you can see improvement over time.

When you feel like giving up, stay positive. Don't give up just because something is hard.

Try to do more research around the subject, for example try doing the biology/chemistry/physics olympiads or maths challenges or any english competitions if you take those subjects. If your school doesn't usually do them, ask if they could organise it, it will help you.

If you aren't where you want to be with revision/ past paper marks be patient. Sometimes you have to go through the worst parts to get to the best parts.

It's not enough to do things right, you must also do the right things. Smart people fail everyday because they execute flawlessly on the wrong goals.

Set tasks when revising/doing homework. Keep your tasks small and do them one by one. Remember multitasking allows you to get less done in more time.

Never get upset because of a grade you got on a test/mock in class! It won't help you. Just stay focused and work on your mistakes. Learn from them.

Assume nothing, question everything.

Don't procrastinate, before you know it you'll be panicking about all the work you have to do in a limited time.

Learn to stop making excuses early

Embrace your challenges during the year and don't waste time because before you know it you'll be on the other side of completed exams looking back at those times wondering where time went.

Don't be put off by teachers saying you won't get a specific grade /predicting lower grades than you hope to get. One of the greatest pleasures in life is doing what others say you couldn't.

Remember the main difference between those who succeed and those who don't is how hard they're willing to work

Get into the habit of revising regularly

When you don't feel like doing revision remember you can either suffer the pain of discipline now or the pain of regret later on. Regret lasts forever.

When you get closer to exams remember worrying can't change the future, so just stay calm and focused.

Haha this turned out to be longer than I originally expected. I realise some of these tips are not really for starting A levels and are more for motivation, hopefully they will help you throughout the year though :smile:


I have to say this is the best advice anyone has ever given to me. It is so detailed and gave me motivation and excitement for starting A levels so thank you so much.
Reply 5
Original post by AhsanIqbal14


1. Keep on top of everything and make sure you understand before you memorise, it makes revision easier.
2. Know how you revise and know what works well for you prior to exams ASAP.
3. Make revision realistic, revise a bit I'd say from October to December, then moderately from your mocks until March and intense from April onwards. (I'd personally say)
4. Balance revision and social life as well as other commitments respectably depending on how close it's to exam season.
5. Shut your phone off and dont procrastinate.
Bonus: Do not watch Game of Thrones during exan season😉

hahahh defo will not watch it during exams, thanks for your great advice.
Original post by linda171
I have to say this is the best advice anyone has ever given to me. It is so detailed and gave me motivation and excitement for starting A levels so thank you so much.


You're welcome :smile: I'm glad it motivated you.

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